It's Baseball at a Cricket's Pace

Updated July 22, 2013 7:48 p.m. ET

The latest game between the Red Sox and Yankees, like every game between the Red Sox and Yankees, went on and on and on Sunday until Boston finally put it out of its misery after 11 innings that took all of 4 hours and 46 minutes.

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But anyone who has ever slogged through a Boston vs. New York series knows that they're not the zippiest of affairs—even by standards of a normal baseball game. In fact, the average game between the Red Sox and Yankees since 2008 has clocked in at 3 hours and 28 minutes, by far the slowest in the league, according to Stats LLC. (A drive in weekday afternoon traffic from Fenway Park to Yankee Stadium takes about 3:15, via
Google
Maps.)

Not that the rest of the American League East division is so committed to speeding things up. AL East teams were responsible for six of the 10 slowest matchups between divisional rivals in that period, per Stats LLC. Boston alone was No. 2 and No. 3 for its games against the Tampa Bay Rays (3:18) and Baltimore Orioles (3:11). The Red Sox host the Rays for four games beginning Monday.

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Boston vs. Tampa Bay games since 2008 have averaged three hours and 18 minutes.
Associated Press

New York's games against the Rays lasted 3:09, the Orioles 3:06 and the Blue Jays 3:03. Somehow, the Orioles and Blue Jays managed to finish in 2 hours and 47 minutes, quicker than all but three division matchups in all of Major League Baseball.

The Seattle Mariners, on the other hand, don't get credit for much these days, considering they're among baseball's worst teams. But at least they don't drag things out: Seattle is involved in three of the sport's seven fastest average matchups with the Rangers (2:50), Angels (2:47) and Athletics (2:45). Only one of the eight Yankees vs. Red Sox games that lasted at least nine innings this season wrapped up in under 2:50.

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